Dangerous obstacles and approaching hazards can typically be sensed by sight or by hearing in most conditions. Hearing impaired and/or sight impaired people, however, need devices that allow for detection of dangerous obstacles, approaching hazards, and other unsafe conditions.
U.S. Publication No. 2006/0167687 to Kates includes a system that provides assistance to hearing impaired persons by processing sound signals. The system includes a headset with one or more microphones and a communication module that receives information from the microphones to ascertain various aspects of sounds received by the microphones, such as the direction of a sound. The system may also include one or more vibrators and a display to alert and warn the user. The display may give the user an indication of the direction of a sound, while the vibrators may vibrate to correspond to the relative level of perceived danger. While the system in Kates provides hearing impaired persons with some warning of sounds, it does so based upon whether the sound qualifies as a warning sound (e.g., horns, sirens, etc) and the potential level of danger indicated by the sound.
There is still a need for an assistance system for hearing and/or sight impaired persons that warns users of dangerous obstacles and hazards and also provides the user with specific messages that the user can use to avoid each obstacle and hazard.